Fight back against 20,000 asylum seekers and refugees moved out of hotels – and into private rented homes: Furious residents in Teesside, Hull and Bradford warn ‘scandalous’ Home Office plan to buy up properties will create ‘mini ghettos’

Furious residents in Teeside, Hull and Bradford have blasted a government scheme to buy up private rented homes for asylum seekers – warning it could create ‘mini ghettos’ that risk hindering integration. 

The Home Office has secured around 16,000 rental properties for asylum seekers as it seeks to move them out of hotels, with an official claiming the purchases were focused in areas where property was cheaper.

Locals in Middlesbrough were among those to slam the move, claiming that concentrating asylum seekers in certain areas will slow their integration into British society and add to the regional housing crisis.

Jason Cutler, a 52-year-old former soldier from Middlesbrough, warned there had already been tension between residents and asylum seekers.

He told MailOnline: ‘There are people moving in who aren’t aware of English customs and it’s causing disharmony as people don’t understand our culture and norms.

Jason Cutler, a 52-year-old former soldier from Middlesbrough, warned of ‘mini ghettos’ while Sue Turner was worried about pressure on local services  

The Home Office is buying up housing in ‘cheaper’ areas such as Teeside, according to reports. Pictured is a street in Middlesbrough

Locals complained about homeless people not receiving enough support (pictured is Bradford in West Yorkshire) 

Ministers are determined to move asylum seekers out of hotels (pictured is a group of asylum seekers arriving at a hotel near Hull) 

‘If they put them all in the same areas it will create mini ghettos and it will make it difficult for them to integrate.

‘I’m not in favour of the policy. The housing situation around here is already pretty dire and this will make it worse.

‘I have two children, one of them is disabled, and I’ve got a small property and we are trying to get a bigger one through social housing.

‘I’ve tried so hard to get my foot in the door. You feel like you’re stuck somewhere and it’s hard to get out. This will make it harder.’

Shaun Crockett, 39, a construction worker from Middlesbrough, said: ‘It’s scandalous. They should be helping all the homeless people around here get off the streets first.

‘What about young people leaving college and trying to get a home? It’s unfair on locals.

‘It’s going to create a small community for the asylum seekers and they won’t integrate with the locals.

‘It’s all going to be paid for by the taxpayer. They should be investing that into our local communities.

‘I have two kids and it’s a safety concern, as some of the asylum seekers won’t have been processed yet and we could be unsure of their background.’

Sue Turner, 66, a retired sales assistant from Darlington, County Durham, said: ‘We have issues with access to services like the dentist and doctors already, it will put more pressure on them and locals won’t get appointments.’

But chef Stuart Kenyon, 39, was more relaxed, saying: ‘As long as landlords are getting paid for their accommodation being used then fair play to them.

‘We’re one world, we have to look after each other. I think it will help them integrate more because they will have English neighbours so they will be able to get to know them.’

Stuart Kenyon, a chef in Middlesbrough, was relaxed about the proposals, saying: ‘As long as landlords are getting paid for their accommodation being used then fair play to them’

A road in Middlesbrough, where residents warned concentrating asylum seekers in particular areas could hinder integration 

Contractors employed by the Home Office, including Serco, have been offered landlords five-year leases with ‘rent paid in full, on time, every month, with no arrears’, as well as full repair and maintenance, except for structural defects, according to the Telegraph. 

The homes come from the same pool as those in the private and social rented sector, and are currently being used to house more than 58,000 asylum seekers in Great Britain.

This is more than double of those in rented ‘dispersed accommodation’ ten years ago.

Housing asylum seekers in dispersed accommodation can reportedly cost as little as £30 every day, five times less than the £150 to put them up in hotels.

But families and young adults could face losing out on cheaper rented housing, experts advising the Home Office have advised. 

Hayley Smith, who is 37 and lives in Hull, was furious at the plans – especially since she is currently battling to get a council home for her daughter and new grandchild.

‘We are trying to get my daughter a house and had no success at all so far,’ he said. 

‘She has been told she is unlikely to get a house even with a child because there are too many people on the waiting list.

‘They would happy for her to be out on the streets. So this is not right. She has a six week old baby to look after. She needs her own place and we live in Hull.’

Amanda Craig said the plans were a ‘good idea’, while Tony Smith was sceptical 

An official has said the properties being purchased have been ‘heavily clustered’ in areas with cheap housing, such as Bradford (pictured) 

Sofie Bentley, 31, was also shocked particularly having seen how many of Hull’s citizens are already on the streets.

‘Housing people is always brilliant but you don’t know if this idea is going to cause any issues,’ she said. 

‘There are already a lot of homeless people in Hull. I was walking through the town centre the other night and it seemed really busy.

‘Then I realised it was homeless people all around. They were walking around with sleeping bags and begging for change.’

Sam Bridge, 29, moved into the Spring Bank area of the city little over a year ago and is also shocked by the local homeless problem.

He said: ‘I would like to see asylum seekers supported but it is a tricky situation.

‘There is homelessness all around me and some houses already being used as temporary accommodation.

‘Every day I see the same man sitting in the street sitting propped up next to a clothing bank and through out town it is an issue.’

Shaz Smith, 30, has lived in Hull all her life though her dad came originally from kashmir.

‘I am half Pakistani and not racist. But I am concerned who will be living amongst us with this scheme,’ she said. 

‘My dad came to this country when he was 8 but has always worked. We have to get DBS checked when we apply for certain jobs.

‘Anyone who steps in this country should be checked out straight away rather than rely on the sham stories that some of them tell.

‘Otherwise, they could be getting these free homes under false pretences.’

Bradford residents also voiced there opinions about the plan.

Amanda Craig, a 48-year-old retired mother of two, said:’I think that it is a really good idea. I think they should be housed, it’s not fair where they are living in hotels at the moment.

‘They deserve to have a property. I can’t see the plan creating any more danger than we have already got in Bradford.’

Rows of terraced housing in Bradford, West Yorkshire, where locals have complained about the quality of accommodation 

Sofie Bentley, a 31-year-old from Hull, said: ‘Housing people is always brilliant but you don’t know if this idea is going to cause any issues’

But Tony Smith, 58, said:’The Government is forcing this area to provide adequate accommodation for the asylum seekers when there is already inadequate accommodation for the local population.’

One insider who spoke to the Telegraph said that the department prefers dispersal accommodation as it is less expensive and ‘more discreet than hotels’.

They said that contractors were using properties in ‘pretty normal streets’, adding that someone could buy a £300,000 house and then find that next door is ‘full of asylum seekers’.

The insider said that MPs were starting to hear reports of problems because of this.

They said the properties have been ‘heavily clustered’ in areas with cheap housing, such as Hull, Bradford and Teesside.

‘It is potentially damaging to these places because it creates ghettos which are terrible for integration,’ they said.

It is understood by the paper that up to 30,000 homes may be needed to end the use of asylum hotels without significantly cutting the 100,000 long list of asylum cases awaiting a decision.

Around 1.21million people were on council housing waiting lists at the end of 2021-22, a slight increase from 1.19 million in 2020-21.

Serco, Clearsprings and Mears, the contractors behind the asylum accommodation scheme, have been paid around £4billion over ten years.

Benefits to landlords espoused by Serco including five-year leases with ‘rent paid in full, on time, every month, with no arrears’, and full repairs and maintenance cover, apart from structural defects with the property.

A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We have always been upfront about the unprecedented pressure being put on our asylum system, brought about by a significant increase in dangerous and illegal journeys into the country over recent years.

‘We continue to work across government and with local authorities to identify a range of accommodation options to reduce the unacceptable use of hotels and limit the burden on the taxpayer.’